Shenanigans at 279 Clermont Avenue?
When the four-story brownstone at 279 Clermont Avenue in Fort Greene hit the Corcoran website in early July at the surprisingly-low price of $1,382,000, it seemed like a classic, and probably quite smart, strategy for bringing out the bidders. (It had failed to sell earlier in the summer at a much higher price with a…
When the four-story brownstone at 279 Clermont Avenue in Fort Greene hit the Corcoran website in early July at the surprisingly-low price of $1,382,000, it seemed like a classic, and probably quite smart, strategy for bringing out the bidders. (It had failed to sell earlier in the summer at a much higher price with a broker called Prospective Properties; we included it as an Open House Pick for $1,748,000 back in June.) In fact, there was enough interest that the seller held a “best and final” closed bidding process two weeks ago. One reader who took place in the process and bid over the asking price was more than a little miffed to find out ten days later that the seller had decided not to accept any of the bids. Instead, the listing re-appeared with a new asking price of $1,610,325. Illegal, immoral or just uncool?
279 Clermont Avenue [Corcoran] GMAP P*Shark
FWIW, I would have thought that “Wasder” was The What. Given that his name is “What The” in German, and all.
The thing is, you’re saying you’re negotiating in “good faith” but are you? Buyers can be sleazy, too. Either side can pull out at any time until the contract is signed (and sometimes after, don’t think you’ll ever get to keep that “escrow” money).
When you sign an agreement with a RE agent to sell your property, you are not obligated to sell the property at all–only to pay the agent if it does sell. You can’t blame the broker for this kind of shit–he’s gonna end up working this thing for another 6 months and never selling it. The seller is probably a greedy idiot, but it’s also possible that all of those offers ran away when they found out about the condition of the house..
It’s more the being “strung on the line” that is so irritating. Or bidding and negotiating in good faith only to find out that the sellers aren’t playing by the same rules. THAT’s what’s annoying, and probably unethical. I got “fished” on a property a few years back. The sellers (FSBO) took my offer, kept giving me reassurances that it had been accepted, after some price adjustments, then I saw they had posted another open house in the NYTs. I went to the open house just to piss them off: “So, does that mean that my offer has been turned down.” It worked. It was a great place, but I just pulled out of their game once I realized how they rolled.
It’s more the being “strung on the line” that is so irritating. Or bidding and negotiating in good faith only to find out that the sellers aren’t playing by the same rules. THAT’s what’s annoying, and probably unethical. I got “fished” on a property a few years back. The sellers (FSBO) took my offer, kept giving me reassurances that it had been accepted, after some price adjustments, then I saw they had posted another open house in the NYTs. I went to the open house just to piss them off: “So, does that mean that my offer has been turned down.” It worked. It was a great place, but I just pulled out of their game once I realized how they rolled.
What is illegal, immoral or lame about trying to get the most for one’s property? In this market, pricing a property is difficult. Starting with a low asking and trying to work the price is no different than starting with a high price and buyers bidding it down. Look in the mirror and say to yourself, I’ll take what they offer when I’m ready to sell my biggest asset. Yeah right!
Sellers are idiots. Hopefully the other buyers who participated in the process will move on to better things, too. Would anyone ever trust these sellers again???
As for the new listing price, under $1.5MM you can still rationalize the purchase price, but anything over that is ridiculous given the renovation and carrying costs AND the state of the market. For $2.2MM (assuming conservative $600K renovation costs), you can buy a better (renovated) brownstone that doesn’t require such a huge cash outlay.
Seems to me that we have already seen some significant if not drastic price reductions in many neighborhoods in Brooklyn. I bought the house I am closing on for 250 less than its original asking price. I say original because it went through a couple of asks before getting to the number I paid. I have only been participating in this board for a three or four months but it definitely feels like over all the market is down from where it was even when I first signed on.
Wasder: I would guess it will be 10 years before we see top-of-the-bubble prices again. It could easily take 3 years just to shake the gremlins out of the system, and then it’s a slow road to recovery. Remember the 10 lost years in New York real estate beginning at the end of the 1980s.
And note that prices are basically at the top now, having started to move down a just few breaths ago.
Thanks Lechacal: this is very interesting stuff. I would imagine that the top of the bubble prices are at least 5 years away, but again I am not any kind of expert here.
I had not taken note of foreign ownership in the city but I do get why them selling out would cause a drag on the market as well.
Thanks for an educating and interesting discussion about things that can cause us all to act like jerks.